What clinical characteristics help separate conditions that mimic scleroderma from Systemic Sclerosis?
– Lack of Raynaud’s phenomenon.
– Lack of nailfold capillary abnormalities including dilatation and dropout.
– Lack of positive antinuclear antibody (90%–95% of SSc).
– Lack of progression of cutaneous sclerosis in a centripetal (“center-seeking”) fashion (e.g., finger and toe involvement first, spreading proximally).
– Lack of characteristic organ involvement associated with SSc (e.g., patulous esophagus, interstitial lung disease, cutaneous telangiectasia).
